Bailey's 8 month, wait I mean 9 month post!

Yes, I'm still catching up on old stuff.....sorry about that.  

And, there's absolutely no way I'm going to remember everything that she does now but didn't do then.  So, I'm just going to remember what I can, and please forgive me if I'm boring and/or repeat.  Thanks in advance!

Anyway, the important thing is that Bailey has made it to 9.5 months!

Which means that we made it past 8 months...

At 8 months, Bailey: 

Was starting to get SUPER busy - as in, those pictures almost cost both of us life and limb, because keeping her in a chair without straps is virtually impossible these days.

Had 6 teeth (4 on top, 2 on the bottom).

Was not yet crawling - she did a bit of an army crawl, and was rocking back and forth on her hands and knees like a wild woman, but had not yet done any actual crawls.

Loved to bite, pinch, hit, and pull her mama's hair  - especially very first thing in the morning - and she was already so strong, it actually reallllly hurt!

Had an ear infection that would NOT go away (hence her mother's lack of blogging energy - yes I know, excuses, excuses).

.....and.....that's about all I've got right now for 8 months!  

 So then we hit 9 months....

At nine months, Bailey: 

Still had 6 teeth, and still was putting everything in her mouth and continually making us think more were on the way.

Was crawling everywhere like a madwoman AND pulling up on everything (she started doing both of those at the beach - such a fun memory).  

Was doing some poses that make us think she's on her way to walking (still SUPER busy):

(for some reason this picture cracks me up and makes me think of the high school yearbook pictures of cheerleaders - although my dad (Pops) thinks it looks like she's doing a football pose, of course.) 

Started doing this sweet dance move (she's bringing breakdancing back....again) (also - LOVE Preston doing "ballet" in the background of this video):

:

Was loving spaghetti, green beans, bananas!, and other assorted finger foods: 

Would still listen to me when I said "no" - as in, "no, Bailey, let's not grab the cords.  No, Bailey, that's the remote.  No, Bailey, that's mama's phone....ahhhh, now the cords again, let's go find one of your 1,378 toys...." She would give me a sweet smile and head toward the next source of danger thing that looked like fun.  

Was continuing to exhibit what I call her "pageant girl" personality.  Not that I see pageants in her future, but she has such a fun ability to put on a happy smile no matter how bad she feels or what is going on.  If she needs to push herself to stay up or do something when she's tired or when she doesn't feel good, she does it, and with a pleasant attitude.  She definitely didn't get that from me, but I absolutely love it!

Is already showing some smarts, even according to the neutral "experts."  At around 9 months, her sweet teacher, Miss Yolanda, told us that Bailey is "very smart. Not that the other children are less than smart, but even though Bailey has less months, she is VERY VERY smart.  AND always happy!"  Then, at her 9 month appointment, our amazing pediatrician, Dr. Geiger, reiterated that B "really pays attention and knows what's going on.  All babies are great, but you can tell that she is really smart."  Now those are words that will warm a parent's heart!

Had tubes put in her ears on her 9 month "birthday" exactly:

All ready for surgery with JR as her ever-present companion

She was such a trooper - she got a little antsy after not getting any breakfast while waiting for surgery, but she was still charming all the nurses and smiling at everyone.  She picked out her very first "doll" in the toy store they took her through before surgery.  She did have a rough time coming out of the anesthesia - she was very confused and fussy, and screamed for probably about 30 minutes more or less straight before she finally fell asleep and took a good nap.  However, after that she was almost immediately back to her new self, babbling and smiling all over the place!

Bailey is honestly one of the smartest, sweetest, and most fun babies I've ever seen.  She's definitely figuring things out more and more, and I just can't believe how big she's getting or how fast she is growing up.  

We love her SO very much - we are so lucky to have her and I honestly feel so incredibly blessed to be her mom!  I just can't wait to see what she does next :)

The Baby Weight Chronicles, Part IV: Little Victories and Creeping Fear...

First, a huge little victory which I discovered yesterday morning:

I LOST 2 MORE POUNDS!

Which sounds REALLY small (& even looks really small in that type) and still leaves 12 to go to get to pre-baby weight, and 17 to get where I'd prefer to be (which is not quite wedding weight but a point at which I feel confident and good in my body). 

Despite the relative smallness of this victory, it feels huge - I've lost those 2 pounds despite taking vacations to the beach and to Knoxville, despite having serious bouts of stress eating due to having a baby with constant ear infections who had to have ear surgery (and who now has a fever virus making her miserable - it never ends!), and despite my total slacking on jogging due to the misery that is Memphis heat.  I'm hoping to pick back up with the running, although I may have to do it after dark (which is not necessarily ideal in Memphis either....) and I'm hoping that will pick the pace back up on the weight loss.

The semi-good news about all the weight I have left to lose is that it's concentrated mainly in my lower belly (right above my c-section surgery incision) and my upper thighs, which means I don't completely HATE every single picture of me.  At least, I don't completely hate those taken from the waist up. 

The bad news about all the weight I have left to lose is that it's concentrated mainly in my lower belly and my upper thighs.  Which means that anything in my closet that was even slightly low-waisted does not fit, even certain pairs of jeans that seemed huge and so so easy to wear before.  Although I also have to admit that it means that some things that I never thought I would fit into at this point which have some stretch and button higher up, like my skinny jeans, actually fit pretty easily. Unfortunately, it also means that I still look pregnant enough to fear wearing any dress or skirt that is "fitted" and meant to be tight, as I'm not sure I could control myself if anyone were to "congratulate" me on my fat pouch.

The odd fitting of some clothes and concentration of weight in the belly/thighs has also meant that I can no longer ignore the creeping fear that has been there all along:

What if this belly never goes away and my clothes never fit correctly again no matter how much weight I lose?

I'm really not sure that this is an irrational fear, either.  I've heard too many people say that after a c-section, your stomach is never the same.  Yes, I've heard people say that about giving birth in general as well, but I've also seen my friends, pretty much all of whom look as good or better after giving birth.  And yes, I do have friends who have had c-sections and also now look as good or better as they did before. (Are all of my friends just freaks of nature?  Where are these other women who claim to struggle with post-natal weight loss?  Although I've been able to commiserate with a friend from college who has a baby around Bailey's age and read my baby weight struggles on this blog and who, even though she still looks super skinny to me, definitely provided me with the invaluable insight that losing her baby weight is the only thing that is really keeping her from feeling like herself again after becoming a mom (I couldn't agree more) no one who lives near me seems to have these issues......So. Not. Fair.)

My belly simply does not seem to be heading back towards flatness.  Don't get me wrong, I've definitely noticed some flattening here and there when I suck in and don't breathe with the slooooooooow loss of pounds, but the "pouch" is still just SO noticeable to me.  It's like my body thinks I'm part kangaroo and is holding a spot for Bailey, just in case she wants to hop back in for a minute. 

Oh well, onward I trudge, hoping to lose my 1/2 pound this week and have another little victory next month.  I mean, kangaroos are cute, right?

Long overdue Father's Day Weekend post (recipe included)!

I realize this post (like the last post) is about something that happened approximately a month ago - but this weekend deserves it's own post, and who needs a topical blog anyway?  Details, people, details... 

On Saturday, we went over to Bubba and Deborah's house and put Bailey in the pool for the FIRST time - she loved it.  Our apartment cardboard box is actually right next to the complex pool, but we wanted to save Bailey's first pool trip for Bubba and Deborah's!  We planned it at the last minute, so unfortunately Deborah couldn't join us, but I'm sure we'll do it again soon with everyone there....

Look at that face!  I think she's excited...

Sweet little waterbug.

Hanging with Bubba!

Then, on Sunday, Bailey and I got up early and let Scott sleep in.  B was sweet enough to play and entertain herself while I made Scott his first Father's day breakfast!

Nothing says summer like fresh fruit salad!  

We also had this egg, sausage, hashbrown, and cheese casserole.  Sorry about the picture - it wasn't that pretty to start with, but I forgot to take one until it was almost halfway gone. 

Anyway, this is a great recipe that you can make the night before and throw in the oven in the morning.  Very minimal work involved here, and that's what I'm all about.  Here's the recipe (from my friend and sweet new mama Suzanne Tuck!):

1 can cresent rolls

1 cup frozen hash browns

1 cup cooked sausage

1 cup shredded cheese
5 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Press cresent rolls onto ungreased 10 inch pan. Place hash browns, sausage and cheese on top. Mix eggs, milk, salt, pepper. Pour over casserole. Bake at 350 for 30 mins.

(Like Suzanne, I don't necessarily get very specific on the 1 cup stuff - I just throw in what looks good and it turns out well every time!) 

After breakfast, we went and walked on the Greenline, ate lunch at Cheffie's, stopped in to see Bubba again, and then went to get a good sushi dinner (Bailey stuck to yogurt and cheese): 

How cute is this picture? It may be another of my all-time favorites.  I love the coordinating outfits!

There is, however, an off-topic and kind of creepy story that goes along with this dinner that I have to share.  We ate at Sekisui midtown, and sat at one of the small tables set up on a bench that runs across the back of the restaurant.  Well, these tables are pretty close together, and when we sat down, the guy at the next table made some small talk about Bailey.  Asked how old she was, said she was cute, normal stuff, nothing obviously creepy.  During dinner, Bailey was being her normal, charming self - babbling, smiling, and clapping, etc. - when, without warning and definitely without asking permission, the guy who had made the small talk took out his iPhone and starts taking a bunch of pictures of her. 

It was very obvious what he was doing - he was sitting approximately one foot away from me, both Scott and I could hear the "shutter" sound iPhones make when they take pictures, and he was aiming his phone straight at her.  No one at his table (he was eating with 2 girls) mentioned it, and Scott and I just gave each other "whaaaaa?" faces and sat there, obviously a little confused and uncomfortable.  After about 30-45 seconds, he finally put his phone away. 

After some covert texting about the situation and weirdness that had just occurred, Scott and I decided to ignore it and move on, but then about 10 minutes later the creeper guy started doing it AGAIN!  By this point, Bailey had begun to get a little antsy in her high chair, so she and Scott were playing with a cloth napkin, and Scott kind of tried to use it as a shield to block the guy's pictures.  The guy was unfazed by the obvious awkwardness, and still attempted to take several more pictures before putting his phone away. 

I mean, I know I think Bailey is one of the cutest babies on the entire planet and everyone else agrees (at least to my face) but was this at all normal?  Has anyone else had anything like this happen?  We ignored it - but we were definitely uncomfortable and took some pictures of HIM just in case.  But, like the semi normal people we are, we took pictures of him in the stealth manner you would EXPECT someone to use when taking pictures of a stranger.  It was so weird - even typing this up has made me feel kind of weird about it all over again.

Anyway, then we came back home, and Reilly and Bailey helped Scott play with his new iPad, which was his 3rd anniversary/first Father's Day present (you can't see it, but the engraving says "happy first father's day, love, bailey"):

Then, we had fudge pie - I definitely will post the recipe for this pie, but it is so freaking good that it deserves its own post - yummmmmmm!: 

Next few planned posts include Bailey's 9 (and 8 - oops, bad mommy!) month post, as well as our 4th of July weekend pictures - I'll try to get to that soon! 

Happy Monday!

Beach Picture Dump and We're Baaaaack!

So sorry for the extended blog hiatus. But, it's summer. And, I'm lazy.  Plus, I've been writing so much at work that I've been completely worn out writing-wise by the time I get home. But, yeah, mostly the lazy thing.

I do plan to try to catch up - we have some huge updates to address, as Bailey still seems to be doing something new just about every day, and we have zillions of amazing pictures to post. So, in an obviously extraordinary effort to make up for my long absence, I'm going to post a bunch of beach pictures. Some with captions, some without captions, because, again, I'm LAZY. And, they mostly speak for themselves - as in, Bailey keeps telling us she has ears that hurt and we keep trying to think it's nothing because she's just always so dang HAPPY. Also, Bailey looks really cute and has a blast with her cousins, Aunt Angie, Mimi and Pops, and our family friends the Greggs.

We had a great time and hope y'all enjoy the pictures! I'll be back - PROMISE pinky swear this time (and we all know that's unbreakable) - VERY SOON! Probably with more lazy pictures from our 4th of July weekend, etc., but hey, that's what lazy blogging is about. Also, Bailey's ears seem to be wonderful now - our ENT, Blake Williams, did a great job, and y'all's happy prayers and thoughts most definitely helped. Thanks so much.  

(Bonus tip for the pictures - here is a fun blog reader tip I didn't know til very recently - if you double click on a picture I post, it will come up in its own screen, much bigger and in better quality. So feel free to do that on any picture I'm not in, because no one wants to see me close up.)

Happy summer everyone!

SAND IS SO YUMMY!

In case you're keeping count, this was the second picture in which we unknowingly captured Bailey reacting to what must have been some pretty significant ear pain.  But, honestly, those first few days she was still so happy, no one could believe anything was wrong with her.  And even when it became clear she was hurting, she still had a lot of fun and acted way better than anyone had ever seen a baby with double ear infections act.  HOW did we get so lucky?!?

Bailey LOVED her Aunt Angie.  I mean, A LOT.  It was so fun to see.

Anyone know where that that random weirdo dimple under my eye came from?   I've never seen it before these pictures....Is it leftover baby weight? Old age?  Sun?  Motherhood?  Bueller?

At first, we wondered where she got this facial expression from....

 Now, we know. 

She and I kinda have the same facial expression here?  I mean, we look alike at least a little bit.....right?!?!?

I. Love. These.  I was looking forward to getting these shots all week, and they did not disappoint.  Yes, I'm weird.  (Also - we did try the hat thing.  Multiple times.  She's hated them since she was approximately 2 weeks old, and would not keep one on for more than a few minutes, no matter how cute it looked.  Which, obviously, led to her ever-present squint in the sun.)

Scott caught a flounder!  We cooked it up and it was delicious. 

 Bailey looks comfortable secure.

Matching!

I cannot tell you how much I love these three girls.  It's just impossible.  

See previous caption.

I love them.  That is all.

Maybe one of my favorite moments ever captured on camera.  EVER.  Love them. 

Also, we got to see Aunt Tracy (and her sweet little baby bump....) on our way back to Memphis!  Yay!  I can't wait to hold a new, sweet little baby!

Prayers Please!

Bailey goes in for surgery to get tubes tomorrow, and I'm irrationally terrified. Which is pretty much my normal M.O. whenever anything even marginally stressful happens.

So, please send us happy thoughts and/or prayers, whatever you're more comfortable with.  I really need this sweet girl to be happy and healthy again. Actually, I guess I should say consistently happy and healthy again, because she's mostly happy and pretty much always makes me happy no matter how bad she feels. We're so incredibly blessed to have this amazing child in our lives - there are no words to describe how much we love this sweet girl.

Read this

Sometimes I wonder why the heck I'm even trying to blog about parenting at all, because the crazy smart and funny writers at blogs like Rants from Mommyland and Stark Raving Mad Mommy and Pregnant Chicken somehow come up with genius topics and stories all. the. time. that hit the flipping nail on it's ugly little head, and I.....well, I wrote about breastfeeding (or not, as the case may be) that one time, and apparently it's the only thing people want to read about on this blog, judging from my stats.  Although there was that one googler who apparently found my blog by searching for "ginormous belly pic."  I'm pretty sure that pervert he found what he was looking for. Sweet. 

Anyway, I have a few posts about our fun father's day weekend with pictures and recipes and everything (I'm so fancy!) about half written in my head which I WILL post this week.  Maybe.  If I have time.  But we've got a lot going on, both at work and personally, so this week may be rough, blogging-wise.  I don't want to vague-blog - but please just send us some positive energy and prayers regarding our living situation, if you will.  We're trying to figure out whether we should risk going all Jack Torrance by staying in the cardboard box apartment for a few more months while praying that the legal gods (or partners in our firm, whatever) create some kind of miracle which lets us  move to East TN, or whether we should give up on our dream of any part of football season in Knoxville by signing some kind of lease on a house or something here in Memphis.  It's all complicated and scary and likely to end up with us making the wrong decision and either losing our minds or losing a bunch of money and we just don't know what to do.

In the meantime - you should read this post from Rants from Mommyland today about things no one told me about parenthood.  Because it's true, it's funny, and they write way way better than me.  Why are you reading this, anyway?   

I'm going to get back to trying to figure out how to write about breastfeeding or how ginormous my belly was again.....hope y'all have a great Monday!

Back and Alive!

Just wanted to do a quick update that we are back, and we are alive.  Overall, we had a great vacation - Bailey loved the sand, the waves, the ocean, and spending time with her family and friends.  During our week, Bailey showed off all of her charm and even clapped, pulled herself up on a table and couch, and crawled (mostly) all for the first time while we were there!  So even though she wasn't drinking her bottles or sleeping well, and both Scott and I were a little concerned, we tried to chalk it up to her being distracted by all the fun people around and a little off schedule.  

Well, this probably should have clued us in: 

This is one of the sweet pictures from Bailey's first sand and ocean visit, which occurred on our first day at the beach.  In case that picture doesn't clue you in, it doesn't appear that sweet B got over the ear infection she'd been on medication for the week before we left for vacation, and then she somehow developed another one in the other ear while we were there.  So, our sweet girl had double ear infections while we were at the beach, and we didn't figure that out until WEDNESDAY, when I finally visited the doctor (despite the major clue in the picture above, which was taken on Saturday. Please don't call CPS).  Which meant that she slept terribly, she would scream when I even turned around, regardless of whether I left the room or not, and I couldn't stand to leave her for more than just a few minutes unless she was napping.  Needless to say, although we both had a great time, neither B nor I got too much relaxing done.  

So, after 2 doctor visits this week, one to confirm that the antibiotic she went on last week while we were at the beach didn't get rid of her infections, and another to determine that she was officially a candidate for tubes and schedule the surgery, I am officially exhausted.  

I remember saying, in my pre-parent days, that I was so tired that I needed a "vacation after my vacation."  Well, this vacation gave that saying a new meaning, but we're doing great, and Bailey appears to have broken a couple new teeth through on the top, so (KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK on wood) she has been sleeping better.    

So, apologies for my late posting this week, and for what I expect may be slightly less than normal posting in the future - I do expect to keep blogging, but right now, I'm going to take as much of a vacation after my vacation as possible and remove all expectations from myself except to eat, sleep, exercise, and work (which is kinda insane right now).  So, my posts may not be as frequent.   But I promise that, in the near future, I WILL post some fun memories from our vacation and finally do an 8 month Bailey post (hopefully before it's time to do a 9 month post, but no promises).  

Anyway, for something completely off-topic - in case you have a few minutes for something pretty funny - and, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, this link should NOT be clicked if you have an aversion to the "f" word or other offensive curse words - this is pretty entertaining.  I haven't quite experienced most of this yet, but I can see it coming......

Also, this was so scary - but cute at the same time?!

Some Things I'm Loving Right Now

I want to leave for vacation on a high note (which last night's post definitely was not - sorry about that, it was definitely the result of my habits of over-analysis and over-sharing + a glass of wine on about 5 hours sleep + the fear of another night with only 5 hours sleep (these days, that's out of my hands).  Apparently when you put all that together, it = "poor me" blog posts.  Duly noted.)

So - here are some things I'm loving right now, in no particular order: 

- Running:  ok, maybe LOVE is too strong of a word right now.  But I'm up to 50 minutes, I'm getting stronger, and it's getting a wee bit easier.  As in, sometimes I don't even look at my watch until 20-30 minutes in, as opposed to my former "holy crap it has to have been 20 minutes by now" which would then be followed by a watch check showing I'd only been running for 7 minutes, after which I'd curse and want to cry.   So the "minute counting" running usually only happens for the last 5 minutes or so.  I've even felt small bouts of the runner's high.  

-The newly-redone Kroger on Mendenhall:  It has, like, 17,000 types of cheeses.  16,000 of which I've never heard of, but look delicious - and they have free samples most of the time, so I can verify that most of them taste delicious too! (Something you should know about me:  If there's a free food sample within site, I'm trying it at least 99% of the time.  Even if I have to elbow some old folks out of my way.)  It also has packs of 4 Yobaby yogurts for about a dollar cheaper than Whole Foods.  And, it introduced me to the awesomeness that is Amy's organic frozen foods.  Which are similar to Lean Cuisines, only organic (and therefore a little more expensive) and better tasting (I'm a calorie counter, not a fat gram counter, so the added fat grams don't bother me).   They are my new go-to lunch foods to keep me from overspending on both money and calories at lunch.   Also, they have an awesome name. 

- The fact that Bailey said "mama" the other day:  I know she had no idea what she was saying, nor would she even repeat it back to me afterwards.  But while I was feeding her, she just looked right up at the ceiling fan and said "mama" (Yes - the ceiling fan.  I wouldn've preferred eye contact, but beggars can't be choosers.  Also, I'm pretty sure she wasn't calling the ceiling fan "mama" but one can never be certain....)  I know I will probably regret saying this in the near future when I can't have a phone conversation without interruption, but right now I can't wait to hear that word more often!

- The fact that Bailey gets to spend time with her sweet cousins Maddie and Caroline, her aunt Angie, and her Mimi and Pops next week at Pawleys (although of course we're going to miss you Bill, Tracy, Omar and Preston!):  I grew up going to Pawleys each year with my family and my cousins on my mom's side, Rob, Ginny and Sara, as well as my aunts and uncles, and I just love that Bailey is going to have similar memories. 

 Also, do you think Maddie could teach Bailey this pose?:

So fierce - Love it!  

Ok, now I'm really going to head out - we leave for Knoxville tonight, then may go halfway to Pawleys tomorrow night, then all the way Saturday.  Y'all have a great week!

Right now....

I can barely keep my eyes open, as Bailey had me halfway awake from 3:30 a.m. on this morning, but I'm trying to stay up to get some time with Scott before we leave for vacation with my family, as he worked late tonight and now is trading cars with his dad so we can hopefully fit all our stuff in the car and actually sit in it as well. 

I should be packing while I wait for Scott to get home, but instead I'm watching crappy tv (Chelsea Lately, to be exact), drinking a glass of wine, and making myself depressed by thinking about how quickly Bailey is growing up.   And Memphis.  Just in general. 

I tried packing earlier, but then got overwhelmed and quit.  Which means that tomorrow should be fun. 

We took terrible pictures of Bailey tonight for her 8 month photo shoot.  It didn't go so well.  She didn't eat well at school, so she was super grumpy, and she is such a busybody these days that she just kept trying to crawl out of the chair.  Also, there may have been a minor injury which occurred when someone failed to keep an eye on her for exactly 1/4 of a second and she managed to get her body halfway out of the chair, which, because of gravity, meant that her head was halfway to the floor and was only stopped from going all the way by her exersaucer leaving a little red mark gently knocking it before I could grab her.  Please don't call CPS. 

I'd planned to put the good pictures from our photo shot tonight together to make Bailey's 8 month blog post tonight, but instead I'm sitting here, drinking wine, and watching crappy tv.  And writing this post, which no one cares about. 

My new plan to jumpstart my metabolism by jogging and reducing carb intake has apparently resulted in me gaining a few pounds.  Awesome. 

In case you can't tell, I'm in need of some positive energy.  Yes, this is vague, but whatever good vibes and happy prayers could be sent our way, I'd be totally grateful for them. 

Sorry for being all whiny again, but to make up for it, here's a cute picture of Bailey from her 8 month photo shoot to keep you busy while we're gone..........Hope y'all have a wonderful next week and a half - we're going on a vacation hiatus (unless I get crazy and upload some type of app with which to update from the beach.....)!

Also, some outtakes which demonstrate why this photo shoot didn't exactly go as planned (despite my clearly awesome photography skills, which obviously don't result in any blurry pictures): 

I can crawl!  Right off the chair!

Mom, this is awesome!

Ahhh, I love Reilly!

Plus, now I know how to clap, which is totally awesome!

Oh, I've gotta go, I've got WAY more important things to do than sit here in this chair and look pretty - for instance, watch this, I'm going to make mom look away to put down the camera JUST as I decide to crawl off the chair!